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"If There are no Rocks There is no Happiness" - Bernd Zangerl

These words of an iranian climber i will never forget. they describe the lebensgefuehl of many young people here in iran. At first however the situation is not obvious. everywhere i meet friendly and helpful people, who laugh often and are always joking around. but after long discussions i become aware that their dreams of life are limited by the isolated space they have learned to deal with.

Finally, after a 48 hour train drive we arrive at the border to Iran. all passengers of the train have to leave and carry their luggage to the check post. hours are passing. with some kind of fear i am waiting to be checked. the strong presence of military and police confirm my preconception which has been drawn in my mind over the years. (big thanks to our free European media world)

It took another 24 hours and this picture was torn apart. i am overwhelmed by the friendliness and hospitality of the people in Iran. meeting Saeed and hedy changed our former plans completely. we skipped the visit of some ancient cultural places and instead we experienced real Iranian culture. saeed spontaneously invited us to visit his family and friends in the city of rasht. living with them in their home and being part of their family quickly changed our thoughts. we enjoyed our visit in Rasht a lot. i never experienced something similar in my life before. thank you very much. we are looking forward to visit Saeed, hedy and their family again.

later, in Tehran we find us in the same situation. everybody is helping us finding our way throught this jungle of a city. luckily nasim esqhi is in town, showing us the hot spots for bouldering and climbing around Tehran. (alborz mountains) despite the heat it was good to do some sports again and get in touch with the motivated climbing scene of Tehran.

For (whomever's sake) there is a lot of rock in iran. did you know that just the mountains north of its capital are topping out above 5500m? (damavand, 5671m) you find not just sportclimbing or trad routes! you can also go for big walls, and Nasim is busy putting up new routes in her beloved mountains. what a character. her view on climbing and the world is unique. to top all this off there are glaciers and of course: boulders. believe me: you will be amazed what else you can experience in the mountains of Iran.

Don't get demotivated by the difficulties when organizing a trip with official European travel agencies, or getting a visa. its easy when you do this by your own.just surf the web. best climbing season is spring and Autumn!

ps: If you have trouble getting a visa feel free to contact me. i will forward you a good address.